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Message from EFI CEO, Guy Gecht

At the start of what is certain to be an exciting new year and on behalf of everyone at EFI, thank you for your continued business and partnership. The entire EFI team is focused on bringing to market consistently state of the art technology that exceeds your expectations and helps drive your business success in 2011 and beyond.

Message from EFI CEO, Guy Gecht

At the start of what is certain to be an exciting new year and on behalf of everyone at EFI, thank you for your continued business and partnership. The entire EFI team is focused on bringing to market consistently state of the art technology that exceeds your expectations and helps drive your business success in 2011 and beyond.

Our R&D investment supports the EFI team’s passion, which is delivering industry-leading technology innovation that helps you capitalize on the most promising growth areas of our industry (short run digital printing for documents, signage, and packaging), including award-winning software that automates your business processes. Last year we reinvested 28% of our 2009 revenue in R&D, particularly significant considering that on average, software and Internet companies invest 11.4 % of their sales in R&D, and the average for hardware companies is 7.1%*. We will continue to emphasize R&D in 2011 because we believe innovation determines our industry’s future.

There are certainly myriad opportunities to see EFI technology innovation throughout the year, but we pull out all the stops for Connect, our annual users’ conference, and we hope to see you there. To be held April 26-29, 2011, at the Wynn Las Vegas, our 12th annual Connect will include an expanded Fiery track among our more than 100 seminars and training sessions, and the opportunity to thoroughly explore our entire product line, with the talented team members who create it right there to answer your questions.

We feel privileged to work with you and will continue to earn your loyalty and trust every day. Again, thank you for choosing EFI, and we wish you a prosperous New Year. Enjoy this edition of The World of Fiery.

Fiery System 9 Delivers High Return on Investment

In a product analysis from IT Enquirer titled “EFI™ Fiery® System 9 Release 2 RIP,” the group’s findings demonstrate that Fiery System 9 Release 2 delivers a high return on investment. The report states that the system enables print companies to create new revenue streams by allowing them to deliver printing capabilities that were previously only possible using traditional analog printing. Best yet, people of various skill levels can use the system’s features and get professional results. This article gives a high-level overview of the report’s findings and explains how these features add value to your businesses.

In today’s competitive landscape, speed and power in a RIP make a big difference in meeting tight customer deadlines and high expectations. The IT Enquirer report shows that Fiery excels at both. It calls the Fiery RIP, “a true RIPping powerhouse that has been optimized…to process files in minutes versus other systems that take at least 30 minutes.” When files take less time to process, businesses’ productivity increases and fewer deadlines are missed.

High-Quality Color Is Possible from Anyone with Fiery Technology

The skill level of people involved in document preparation and production vary from beginner to expert. According to the report, Fiery RIPs make producing high quality color easy because it does not require an operator to have a degree in color management.

The report highlighted two features to demonstrate this point:

“Fiery Command WorkStation® gives access to basic and advanced color management features in several locations across an intuitive user interface (e.g., Job Properties panel, the paper catalogue and the calibration tool).”

In quick printing, print-for-pay shops and in-plant commercial reprographics departments, good image quality is essential, even if the photos taken are less than perfect. According to the report, Fiery technology excels in this area because of the Image Enhance feature in Fiery Command WorkStation. This feature automatically improves exposure, color cast, shadows and highlights, sharpness, and performs red-eye reduction. Best yet, the feature is automatic, so there is no need to set parameters to get a decent result, and it saves businesses time because under-optimized images don’t need to be sent back to the originator for re-touching before RIPping anymore.

Fiery System 9 Release 2 comes with an impressive set of output options and customization capabilities that all work together seamlessly to deliver professional-looking, finished documents – regardless of their complexity. These features include its own paper catalogue, font libraries (e.g., Postscript and PCL fonts), and an imposition system (Fiery SeeQuence Suite).

Advanced Workflow Integration Ensures Additional Functionality

According to the report, one of the biggest advantages of Fiery technology is its integration with Adobe® applications – especially when it comes to the Postscript capabilities or the Adobe PDF Printing Engine (APPE).

The tight integration with APPE enables a native end-to-end PDF workflow with collaborative review, approval, soft proofing and hard proofing, and archiving. It also reduces unwanted surprises and last-minute prepress changes, along with guaranteeing that complex designs and effects, including variable data printing elements, are efficiently and reliably produced.

Fiery System 9 Release 2 also provides JDF control for device-dependent processes, such as color management, trapping, and imposition, so operators can quickly accommodate last-minute changes and easily configure printing jobs for various types of devices and presses by unlinking content from the process.

By supporting APPE and JDF in tandem, the Fiery RIP also enables users to set up a PDF workflow for Variable Data Publishing (VDP), in which speed and simplicity are critical for jobs that require personalized printing.

Multi-Level Approach to Optimize Spot Color Matching

The Fiery system is set to produce repeatable, accurate spot colors using several built-in features such as its extensive set of color matching system tables. To ensure that you optimize spot color matching capabilities on Fiery technology, we suggest following the multi-level approach below. Each step or level can cumulatively improve the accuracy of the spot color processing.

Level 1: Calibrate your Fiery regularly. Every Fiery system includes one or more calibration methods, which should be used to ensure that the Fiery system is in line with the engine. Methods that use an instrument, such as the ES-1000 spectrophotometer, provide a more precise calibration.

Level 2: Ensure that the most appropriate output profile is selected when printing a job. The output profile directly influences the specific CMYK values generated by the spot color tables (LUTs). All Fiery systems include factory standard output profiles for a variety of papers, weights and coatings. Make sure to select the profile that best matches your paper.

Level 3: Build and use your own output profiles. By building profiles for each paper that you use, you are able to characterize your exact printing conditions. Color profiling software with a measurement device is needed to build output profiles. Fiery Color Profiler Suite, a color profiling solution, and the EFI ES-1000 spectrophotometer, a color measurement device, can be purchased from your dealer or the EFI eStore.

Level 4: Manually tweak the spot color using Fiery Spot-On. If you have a particular spot color that is not being reproduced to your satisfaction, or you need to change a spot color for any reason, Fiery Spot-On allows you to manage and adjust all the factory installed spot color tables, including adding your own. You can access Fiery Spot-On from Fiery Command WorkStation, in the Device Center under the Resources tab.

Fiery-Driven Engines Are the First to Pass Fogra Validation Printing Certification

EFI is deeply committed to developing outstanding industry-standard products that cater to our customers’ demanding requirements. We work with various print industry organizations to ensure this point, such as PODi on creating industry standards for PPML and with CIP4 on industry standards for JDF technology. EFI also maintains a close relationship with Fogra, a Germany-based institute that works actively to create new standards within the ISO committee. One of the latest standards introduced is “Fogra Validation Printing” and Fiery–driven printers are the first solutions to successfully pass the rigorous certification process, ensuring customers are able to attain accurate and consistent color quality.

Why is this certification important to you?

Certified systems offer many advantages to printing businesses, such as:

Lower overhead costs and higher productivity because workflows are more efficient and reproducible.

Increased sales due to accurate, reliable and repeatable color and happier customers.

Many Fiery-driven print engines in the production and light production segments have successfully passed the Validation Printing Systems Certification. They include Canon, Konica Minolta, Océ, Ricoh and Xerox® engines, alongside solutions such as EFI Fiery Colorproof™ XF, Fiery Command WorkStation, and Fiery Color Profiler Suite. Get the full the list of Certified Fiery FograCert Validation Printing Systems.

Make Knowledge Profitable

The old phrase, “Knowledge is power” may be true, but it can be profitable for everyone when you get trained on Fiery technology. That’s why investing in interactive eLearning courses for Fiery end users, operators and dealer support staff can increase both your company’s top and bottom lines. Each 30-45 minute course is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The self-paced courses are specifically designed to teach useful tips that improve workflow, productivity and quality by using Fiery technology.

The courses also:

Enable your business to expand services and enhance customer satisfaction.

Reduce support requirements, waste and downtime.

Increase productivity

Drive more business through greater efficiency and knowledge.

Don’t miss this opportunity to become a Fiery expert and improve your business results – check out the latest eLearning courses at Fiery Global University now! Sign up by February 1st, 2011 on any one or several eLearning courses and save 20% off the cost. Simply use the promo code LEARN_20. As an extra incentive, try one course online free on us!

Spread the Word about Powerful Fiery Solutions

Our customers often let us know how Fiery technology has made their lives easier and has improved their productivity and bottom line. Now, it’s your turn. Share your experience using Fiery products with us and our readers. Let us know how Fiery solutions have helped your business and assisted you in overcoming challenges. You can provide a quote or a full testimonial. We are happy to work with you to showcase your Fiery experience and business. For more details about the submission and qualification process, please send us an e-mail at fierycrp@efi.com.Back to Top